


Bent.

by daggerandtherose



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, PDA, a lot of crying here, get a grip harry, larry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daggerandtherose/pseuds/daggerandtherose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the one where Harry can't take the hiding anymore so Louis snogs him in front of 20 000 people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bent.

**Author's Note:**

> okay I don't know how this happened but I couldn't stop writing so here it is

It started with the small things. The lingering glances.  The sly touches that told unspoken words of affection thought to have gone unnoticed.  The other kind of contact, the kind that reclaimed territory, that made sure the other knew that they were theirs.  The inevitable motion of being unable to focus on the words spilling from the other's mouth, instead the lips that the words were being formed from.  Questions being answered to the other, rather than the interviewer at hand.  The pretend make-out session that was supposed to be a joke in answer to one said question, but provided the sneaky opportunity to in fact grant the two with the quick kiss that they both thought would've had to be delayed for a few more hours.  The small disregarded words of mutual love shared between the pair when all attention was on another member of the band.

 

But it came to the point when people started to notice.  People saw that the relationship between the two was stronger than with any other member in said band, stronger than a normal friendship.  And the boys' management got scared.  The whole marketing of a boy band relies on sexual want from the public, more focused on that of women.  So what's the point when two members are gay, and together. 

 

So alterations were put in place.

 

All questioning of a relationship were to be denied, the whole thing to be called 'an illusion created by the minds of some delusional fans'.  The freedom to choose who to sit with at interviews, signings etcetera, was taken.  Fake girlfriends and rumours of such were produced for the media's pleasure.  Anything and everything to take all attention from the two as a couple away. 

 

But it got too much.

 

"So," the interviewer, whose name could not be remembered by any of the five boys sitting in front of her, started her questioning with a cheery but obviously fake smile.  "The question everyone is dying to know.  Who here is single?"

The talk of relationships always was a touchy subject for the band.  Zayn wearing a proud smile at the thought of his committed girlfriend.  Liam going quiet suddenly due to his recent split.  Niall throwing his hand in the air - "I just don't really have the time for that in my life at the moment, with being on tour and all." 

Harry went quiet, a shy smile creeping onto his own face at the thought of his relationship, head tilting to the side slightly to try and catch the eye of his partner.  An elbow digging into his side brought him out of his thoughts, Niall seated to his left pushing his attention back to the interviewer. 

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" 

"Well we were wondering if there was a certain special someone if your life right now?" 

Harry looked up to their handlers off screen, who stared back with a deadpan expression.  He drew in a deep breath before replying.

"Oh no, I'm still single.  I'm sorry about that; my mind is just somewhere else right now." 

The interviewer just smiled and continued with her questions. 

 

Harry had never been so glad when the goodbyes were said and the boys were allowed back to the dressing room.  He politely kissed the interviewer on the cheek, being the well-raised gentleman he was, and walked straight down the corridors, not talking to anybody in his way.  The one voice he really couldn’t bear to hear right now was following him, but he didn't stop until he realised he had no idea where he was going.  All of the corridors just looked the same around here.  A frustrated groan was released as his hands gripped at his hair, body leaning back against the wall. 

"Harry, please.  What's going on?"  Louis extended his arm to try and sooth his boyfriend, but was shrugged off with an unexplainable force.  One that he didn't deserve. 

"Harry, just talk to me."

"And say what Louis?" Harry bit back at the other, knowing he was being selfish and far too harsh on his partner, but his anger was leading his mind at that moment.  "Huh?  How about 'no one's in my life right now' or 'I don't have time for a relationship'?  Because I _do_ Louis.  I _do_ have a relationship, and I _do_ have someone in my life.  I have _you_. "

"Is this what this is about?  Harry you know-"

Louis was cut off my Harry's fist making contact with the wall, a small hole being left in its wake.  He didn't think he'd ever seen Harry so angry in all of his years of knowing him, and he had seen Harry during some bad times.

"No, Louis.  I don't know.  I don't know why I still have to say 'no' all the time.  2 and a half years we’ve been together, surely they understand this isn't just some phase like they thought." 

Harry forced his back against the wall, sliding to the floor and burying his hands in his hair. 

"C'mon, we've only got two years left of the contract and-"

"Fuck the contract!  I can't do this anymore."

The last words were said with such emotion that Louis knew there was more meaning behind them.  Tears began to form in his eyes. 

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean I can't do this anymore.  You're my boyfriend, Louis.  I should be able to show you off to the world.  I should be able to hug you or kiss you or even just hold your hand when I leave the house, but there's always someone telling us we can't.  This isn't fair on either us, Louis.  If I can't do things that your boyfriend should be able to do without fretting about it 24/7, then maybe it's best if I wasn't your boyfriend at all."

Louis' breath caught in his throat.  Harry daren't raise his head to look Louis in the yes, because he knew he'd break down even more if he did. 

"You -you don't mean that."

"But maybe I do, Louis.  There will never be a moment in my life where I will stop loving you, but this relationship isn't healthy, we both know that."

More tears began falling freely down Louis' cheeks.  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again.  And when he finally knew what to say, he just couldn't get the words out.

"There you are boys.  C'mon, we have to go."

Louis just stood there, eyes not even following as Harry stood to his feet and walked in  the direction of Paul, murmuring an 'I'm sorry' as he passed. 

"Louis, hurry up."

 

The boys knew something was wrong as soon as Louis and Harry got into the van, but didn't say anything.  Not even when Harry climbed into the passenger seat next to the driver, and asked for the dividing screen to be rolled up.  Not even when Louis layed his head in Zayn's lap and cried and cried as Zayn thread his fingers through his hair in a soothing gesture.  And not even when Harry got out at Niall's at the first drop off and asked to stay with him for the night, despite Louis' cries getting harder. 

 

It got to the two week point where neither Louis nor Harry had begun speaking again when the boys said something.  It was Liam who started it.  Travelling from one venue to the next, Zayn had suggested he and Louis take their Mystery Machine instead of riding in the main tour bus with the remainder of the band (to try and get his mind off things, but nobody said that).  It was about 30 minutes into their 2nd round of Halo when Liam text him.

_'Harry's crying again, do something'_

Zayn sighed, but knew he had to do something. 

"Hey Lou?"

"Mmm." 

Louis didn’t even look up from the game as he replied.

"What's going on with you and Harry?" 

Louis tensed at Zayn's words momentarily, but quickly returned transfixed into the game, ignoring Zayn's question. 

"Louis." 

"Just drop it Zayn, alright."

Zayn sighed again, pausing the game on the main controller so Louis wouldn’t be able to use the game as a distraction. 

"Look, I get you're having problems but this whole not speaking thing has got to stop."

"We aren't together anymore, is that a good explanation for you?  Now I said drop it."

Louis' snappy reply prevented Zayn from pestering any further, but it didn't mean he didn't tell Liam and Niall what was going on.  And it didn't mean they weren't worried.

 

3 months had gone by and the two still weren't speaking.  Harry had tried; just because he ended their relationship didn't mean he wanted to ruin their friendship, but gave up after about attempt 7 of Louis still not saying anything in return.  On numerous occasions had the boys locked them in a room to try and force them to talk it out, but they sat in silence for the whole 17 hours.  It had got to the point where Harry stopped turning up for sound check to not have to see Louis, or Louis would fake multiple illnesses to not have to do some interviews.  Louis and Harry weren't just affecting their own relationship in this, they were affecting the band. 

 

It was the boys' last show of the UK leg of the tour and 10 minutes before they were due on stage, Louis was nowhere to be found.  Liam, Niall and Zayn where trying to calm Paul and Preston and all of the other who where pacing frantically to try and find him. 

"He would never miss a show, he'll be here soon." 

Liam's attempt to provide some peace in the small room fell upon deaf ears.  People had started to conclude with rearranging the show, there was a gap in the European tour that they were sure they could fit in a quick stop back home.  The fans couldn't be left disappointed. 

Harry, meanwhile, just sat on the couch, eyes focused on the pattern his fingers were drumming on his shaking leg.  He couldn't take this anymore.

He stood abruptly, said "I'll go get him." and left the room, not knowing if anyone heard him or not. 

He could hear Louis' cries before he even reached the door of the abandoned room the pair had found at their first show in this arena.  They had been exploring, pretending they were in a horror movie when the lights wouldn't turn on in the basement, and their adventurous streak ended up with Harry blowing Louis on the torn-up couch in the room.  It pained Harry to think about it, but he knew what day it was.  He knew Louis would seek comfort from here.

The door wasn't fully closed so Harry pushed the it open fully, leaning against the doorframe. 

"Lou."  He croaked out, unable to find the boy due to the darkness.  The sobs quietened, but Louis didn’t reply.

"Lou, you need to come out now.  We're on in about 5 minutes." He sighed.  Harry had done a lot of sighing in the past 3 months.

"Do you remember?"  The voice startled him, and it hurt even more to hear how damaged Louis sounded.  Harry still loved Louis, always would; he never wanted him to be in pain. 

"Not now Lou, we need to go." 

"We almost broke the door when we first came here.  You were so scared because of that supposed rat that you saw that you didn't even bother with the handle, just threw the both of us through the door. "

Harry couldn’t bear to hear the memories that Louis obviously remembered to, the tears now falling down his face a sign of that.  "Stop it Louis."  Louis either didn't hear or he just didn't listen.

"And then you pinned me against that wall, telling me you were protecting me from the monsters, and we both got stitches from laughing so hard at that because we both knew it would be the other way round in real life because you get so easily scared."  A small chuckle came from the boy, but he didn't stop.  "And then- then you looked at me, and even in the dark I could see all of you features, all the parts of your face and how intently you were staring.  Then you told me you loved me, until the day we both died, and that no one could ever get between that."  Louis' words started to hitch in his throat as he spoke; he was crying again.

"Louis I-"

"And then you kissed me, picked me up and blew me right where I'm sitting now, on this couch that we thought was going to fall apart when I tried to get more from you because it was creaking so bad.  And then we ran upstairs and everyone knew what had happened because you're so obvious when you've given head: your lips are all red and shiny and it takes you a good ten minutes to be able to talk properly if we do it right and your hair is all dishevelled and I loved it because all of that was because of me."    

"Louis, stop!"

Harry shouting seemed to snap Louis out of whatever he was in, but not for the better.

"You want me to stop?!" He screamed at the direction he knew Harry was in.  Deciding that wasn't enough, he marched over to the looming shadow of Harry and pushed him against the wall, forbidding him to move with an arm across him chest.  Harry had never seen Louis in such a way.  "You actually have the nerve to tell me stop?  Do you even know what today is?!"

He paused long enough for Harry to stutter out an "Of- of course I do." but quickly cut him off again.

"It would be _3 years_ , Harry.  3 years of us being together in a happy relationship that we both know would be still working out if you hadn't been so selfish and _cowardly._ "

"That's hardly fair, Lou.  It was hard for both of us."

"Exactly.  Both of us.  It was hard for me too, Harry.  But I was still so bloody infatuated and so madly in love with you that I knew you were worth so much more than the pain."

Harry let out an embarrassing sob before continuing.  Louis had released him from the wall, but they still stood close.  Deep down, the two had missed being this close to each other.

"But it wasn't just us, Louis.  We have to think about the bigger picture.  It killed me to see you talk about your lovely relationship with Eleanor and see you doing things with her, things that _I_ should be doing with you.  It killed me seeing all of these articles about me being a womanizer and sleeping with hundreds of women when it has always just been _you_ , Lou.  But this was affecting others as well.  Eleanor can't have a proper relationship of her own because the whole world thinks she's with you.  Think how hard it must be for her, can't fall in love properly just because of us.  And there're the fans, Lou.  Management started to attack _them._ They've done _everything_ for us but if anyone mentions us as a couple then they get slated.  That's not what we did this for."

By this point Louis had walked back to the couch, and Harry was sat next to him.  Both were crying, but neither moved to comfort the other. 

"I could never stop loving you Louis; I've always told you that.  But our relationship causes so much pain for others, and I can't do it anymore."

"Let me kiss you." 

Louis words shocked Harry, not only because he hadn't said anything in the past five minutes, but they hadn't even spoken in months, never mind kissed.

"W-wha-huh?"  Harry stuttered.

"On stage.  Now, at this concert.  At the end of Little Things or Kiss You or some cliché song like that, let me just walk up to you and kiss you.  The video will be all over the internet before management will even know about, and this means that I don't have to be with Eleanor anymore.  It means she can live her life properly, it means our families don't have to lie for us anymore.  And if every single fan is tweeting about it, management can't do anything about it, because they won't want to get rid of _all_ of our fans - all of their pay check.  We can be free Harry, we can be in a proper relationship and everyone will know it."

Harry was still speechless.  He couldn't believe the plan Louis had thought of. 

"But-but you were the one that wanted us to hide in the first place."

"I didn't want us to hide, I just nodded along with whatever management said.  Just because I said yes doesn't mean I agreed with it." 

Harry just sat there, mouth gaping wide.  Louis put his phone flashlight on so the two could see each other, the light blinding but it gave them the chance to see how ruined the other actually was. 

Minutes passed before Harry's "You really wanna do this?" came.

"Never been more certain."

"Fuck I love you."  Harry had started crying again, and moved forward to kiss Louis.  He had been deprived for 3 months for no reason and if they didn't have a show to perform he would give anything to just lay in bed with Louis and rekindle their love in the form of multiple rounds of sex and plenty of kisses.  But Louis stopped him, and stood up despite Harry's confused expression. 

"Wait until later." 

Harry grinned as Louis walked out of the door - his dominance hadn't changed a bit. 

"How will I know when it's time?" 

"Oh you'll know."  Louis reply echoed down the hallway, and Harry - still grinning - fell back down onto the sofa with a huge creak. 

He was so goddamn in love with that boy. 

 

During the show, Harry couldn't take his eyes off of Louis.  The anticipation of the Kiss was too much, and he barely interacted with the other boys as much as he normally would.  It was in the middle of Kiss You (Louis couldn’t help himself) when it happened.  Harry was prancing around the centre of the stage when Louis stopped right in front of him.  Hands on his neck as he pulled Harry down to his lips.

Louis had got everyone involved:  the band stopped playing, David cut the background music and lights to a spotlight on the pair, the screens were just showing them, and Liam, Niall and Zayn had moved to the side of the stage to give the two some space.  It was their time to shine.  The crowd went crazy, and the band, the boys, everyone who cared about them had the largest smile on their faces.  Happy that Louis and Harry had sorted themselves out. 

The kiss was everything both Louis and Harry had hoped for.  It was their first kiss in months, and Harry didn’t have the heart to fight Louis in it.  He just kissed him back blissfully, tongue sliding against tongue as the corners of their lips rose.  When Louis finally pulled away, Harry subconsciously followed in an attempt to keep kissing.  Louis just grinned, knocking their foreheads together and pecking Harry's lips three more times.  He turned Harry's face towards the screens, and the sight of them together made the pair smile even more. 

Harry turned to the crowd, holding Louis' hand so tightly as if he was going to disappear and spoke the most important words for their fans. 

_"We're so sorry for lying to you.  It wasn't our decision, and we hated every second of it."_

And then, then he kissed Louis again.  The screaming had stopped and now everyone was just clapping.  Clapping to show that they supported the boys.

 

Management were furious, but couldn’t do anything about it considering the large scale of the event, and just over a year later when the boys finally got out of their contract, they threw a party.  A massive party where everyone turned up, including Eleanor and her recent fiancé, and Niall and his boyfriend of two months. 

You see, despite what everybody thought, Louis and Harry were never broken, just bent.  


End file.
